The present disclosure relates to content-addressable memory, and more specifically, to using multiple dummy reference matchlines to reduce latency.
Content-addressable memory (CAM) compares input search data against a table of stored data, and returns the address of the matching data. CAMs have a single clock cycle throughput making them faster than other hardware-based and software-based search systems. The input to the system is the search word that is broadcast onto the searchlines to the table of stored data. Each stored word has a matchline that indicates whether the search word and stored word are identical (the match case) or are different (a mismatch case, or miss). In addition, there is often a hit signal that flags in the case where there is no matching location in the CAM.